The following is a list of nicknames used for playing cards used in most card games which use the standard 52-card pack. Such games usually require the revealing or announcement of held cards, at which point the nicknames may be used.

The phrase one-eyed royals is jargon referring to the three face cards showing only one eye: the Jack of Spades (J♠), Jack of Hearts (J♥) and King of Diamonds (K♦). The terminology results from the depiction of the face on the card as being shown in profile, so only one eye is visible (all other face cards show two eyes). The jacks are also referred to, separately, as one-eyed jacks: Jack of Spades (J♠), Jack of Hearts (J♥).

They are frequently used in home games of draw poker as wildcards. Because the King of Diamonds is the only king card bearing an axe (the others show swords), a common phrase for the one-eyed royals is "One-eyed Jacks, the Man with the Axe". Another common phrase is "One-eyed Jacks and Suicide King" denoting the King of Hearts (K♥) bearing a sword through his head. These four cards are the only cards of differing rank and suit in a common deck that share an identifying trait.

The following is a list of nicknames for pairs of two playing cards, usually hole cards, used in poker derivatives such as Texas hold 'em and Omaha hold 'em poker. These nicknames are usually used by the player when announcing their hand or by spectators or commentators who are watching the game.

Gamblers who played this hand too strongly were often left with no getaway money.[30] Although other sources state its name was derived because the old time poker players would play this hand so well that they'd leave their opponents walking back to Houston[39]

No explanation found. The nickname is probably given for a number of reasons, including the association between cowboys and playing poker, the similarity between the "K" of "King" and the "C" of "Cowboys" and both characters are male.

The term "J-Ball" came about in Austin when a player would self-promote that his favorite hand was K9. He would always be sure to point out to people that K9 would have been the nutz for that flop or when he won with it, he made sure everyone knew. Soon people started calling the hand "J-Ball" after the player because they associated the hand with him[58]

Milton Butts and I were playing poker in Bryan, Texas, where they had a good game going on the weekends. We'd been playing for a couple of days when a hand came up in which I had a K-9. I made a pretty good hand with it, but lost the pot and went broke. As I was driving back home to Houston with Milton, feeling kind of disgusted about going broke with that K-9, we passed by a sawmill where a man was sawing logs in the lumberyard. "As hard as that guy works for his money, I'll bet he would never go broke with a K-9", I told Milton. And that's how K-9 got named "Sawmill." Some of those names are still going around – Doyle Brunson mentioned the sawmill hand in his book, Super/System[62]

No explanation found, but the nickname is likely to come from Cowgirls the female equivalent of Cowboys (KK). Calamity Jane was also a friend of Wild Bill Hickok, a gunfighter who died during a poker game.

Nicknamed Heckle and Jeckle after twin cartoon jaybirds (2 Jays) that first appeared on television in 1946. (Heckle and Jeckle were, in fact, magpies).[54]

Jack Shit

Popular English phrase referring to "nothing", in this context referring to the fact there is a Jack with the worst possible kicker and also something widely regarded among poker players "nothing" hand.

A term Antonio Esfandiari coined for his favorite hand, making joking reference to his Persian heritage. He used the term on Poker After Dark, apparently after his friends teased him about the hand, no further explanation given.[75] However, Esfandiari also used the term on the commentary track of the World Poker Tour Season 2 DVD set, so the term dates back to at least 2004.

Sandy Dunlop became 2013 champion of the Black Cat Poker tournament with these hole cards

92

Montana Banana

It is a widely asserted myth that this nickname originates from the legalization of poker in Montana by Proposition 92. However, poker was legalized in Montana by the Card Games Act, 23-5-311.[76] The nickname is referring to how it is more likely that bananas will grow in chilly Montana than this hand making money.[66]

This hand is so named after a well known Scottish player. It is of course not a powerful hand but can on occasion make a well disguised straight. Its main function, though, is to tilt other players.[30]

Diamond Club, NYC. Some players are going 36 hours+. Players are a little delirious and talking crap. On the river, Heads up, Craig B. Swears to God "I have Big Slick" [Big Slick would be only ace high] and re raises. After about 4 raises, the other player just calls. Craig turns over 4 7 for the winner. The pissed off other player shouts "you swore to god you had big slick". Craig without hesitation says "This is Big Slick, [he pauses] In Cambodia". The next few minutes Craig B. explains that Hold'em is not popular in Cambodia and some players there, actually think that 4 7 is big slick.[80]

A Double Down is a player decision in Blackjack, in which you are betting that your hand can be won with one more card. A player may only double down on his first two cards dealt. When a player doubles down, the original bet is automatically doubled (a second chip appears) and the player receives one more card.[81] Since there are more 10 point cards than any other, doubling down is most worthwhile on an 11-point hand, 7-4 being worth 11 points.

It's called the Beer Hand because it's either time for a beer; or if you win with this you need to get other players a beer; or only a person full of beers would play this hand.[49]

The beer hand has the worst chance of winning of all possible pocket cards in a full table playing Texas Hold'em. It is slightly better in short-handed games because the fact that it is not possible to make a straight or flush without hitting four appropriate community cards is less important in short-handed games.[82]

The Hammer isn't specifically the 72 hand. At least not officially. In poker, the hammer is defined as the last position (the cut-off), particularly when you're heads-up. The 72 offsuit got the nickname as a result of a competition to play "The Hammer" on "The Hammer" and has been adopted into legitimate Oxford Dictionary poker parlance[83]

One time while playing with Jimmy, she [the dealer] had noticed that trash cards were hitting the flop quite often especially 6's and 3's, so Jimmy wins a huge pot after she told him to play the 63 off he was holding. Thus was born the "Jimmy Sommerfield".

Once, while playing down on the coast, a player wins a big pot. He slaps his cards down on the table and announces "I've got a Jimmy Somerfield!". Then Jimmy says "Let me introduce myself", and shows the player his ID.

I was dealing a four eight game one night to Jimmy, a few other dealers and a bunch of locals. A fairly loose game. The pot is capped six or eight way action. Jimmy announces preflop "I've got my hand !" Nobody believes him when the flop comes 6 6 3 He gets four or five callers to the river. Monster Pot![85]

I was in San Antone playing a big no-limit game with Jack Straus, Sen. Red Berry, and a bunch of the old-time players. Jack was on top of you all the time, but in full ring games, he wasn't as tough as he was shorthanded or heads up. He had two aces and I took the flop with a 6-2. A deuce came on the flop, he made a bet, and I called him. Off came another deuce on the turn, he bet, and I called him. A third deuce came on the river and we got all in. When I showed him that 6-2, he said, "What the hell were you drawing at there, Cowboy?"

"Oh, I wasn't drawing at nothing", I answered. "Just aiming at another deuce. I guess I'm Aimsworth."[62]

There is debate as to where this term originated. The most commonly accepted source of the nickname is that many years ago, before Rec.gambling[87] was split into several groups, followers of the group who were blackjack players were fond of saying "Presto!" as they turned up a 21. This became a sign of recognition of fellow travelers. Around this time (circa 1991), the World Rec Gambling Poker Tournament(WRGPT), of which the first few were played slowly over email, came into being. During WRGPT2(92-93), the attribution of pocket fives as the "Presto Hand" was made by the player Howard Simonson, after using pocket fives to knock out several players from the tournament some number of times. [If a copy of the table-talk from WRGPT2 can be found and cited, this can be absolutely confirmed] Consequently, the term stuck among the rec.gambling minions, and has become a common poker term today.[88] There is also suggestion that the hand won more often than it should due to a computer glitch.[41]

However, there is a counter-argument that there used to be a club in London called the Presto Club. The address was 55 Victoria Street, London. Therefore, whenever someone was dealt 55 in hold'em, they'd say they were dealt "Presto", because of the club's street address. When English players played events worldwide, the word spread, and it caught on everywhere.[89]

Named for one of the greatest bluffs on High Stakes Poker, when Phil Ivey raised pre-flop with a five-deuce offsuit, was re-raised by Lex Veldhuis with KJ suited, and then went all in causing Lex to fold his hand.

"Trey" dates back to the 14th century, and is a name for a card or a die showing three points; originally from Old Frenchtreis.[92]

Pere Ghaf

Named after Mahdi Ghafghazi who called his rest with pocket 3 in hand while ace, King and queen and no three were on the table and lost it all in Mafi Tournament, He interestingly claimed that he has played very well[30]

This nickname likely comes from baseball where a "Can of Corn" is an easily caught fly ball. Supposedly comes from a general store clerk reaching up and dropping a can from a high shelf.[93] Likely to be analogized due to the ease in which 32 is caught since it is the lowest possible non-hand (22 being a pair).

The following sets of playing cards can be referred to by the corresponding names in card games that include sets of three or more cards, particularly 3 and 5 card draw, Texas Hold 'em and Omaha Hold 'em. The nicknames would often be used by players when revealing their hands, or by spectators and commentators watching the game. With TV and web broadcasting of Poker tournaments, nicknames became much more popular all over the world.

It has also been suggested that it is a misreading of the "Corse of Scotland" i.e. the "Cross of Scotland" or St Andrew'sSaltire. There is a resemblance between the pattern of the nine of diamonds and the Saltire.

Nine diamonds were at one time stolen from the crown of Scotland and a tax was levied on the Scottish people to pay for them – the tax got the nickname "The Curse of Scotland".[103]

The game of Comète being introduced by Mary of Lorraine (alternatively by James, Duke of York) into the court at Holyrood, the Nine of Diamonds, being the winning card, got this name in consequence of the number of courtiers ruined by it.

In the game of Pope Joan, the Nine of Diamonds is the Pope – a personage whom some Scottish Presbyterians consider as a curse.

^ The Six of Hearts is known as loyalty at the risk of death or Grace's Card. This is because in 1688 an Irish Jacobite soldier, Colonel Richard Grace of Moynelly House, Athlone, used this card to write a refusal to surrender and sent it to William of Orange. Colonel Grace was loyal to King James II of England, and risked being shot or hanged for his refusal to give up. The words Colonel Grace wrote were, "Tell your master I despise his offer, and that honor and conscience are dearer to a gentleman than all the wealth and titles a prince can bestow"[105][106]

^ The origin of The Bicycle, Little Wheel, Spoke, Steel Wheel, Steel Wheeled Bike or simply The Wheel is unknown, but it is believed to have something to do with the popular bicycle-patterned playing cards issued by the United States Playing Card Company.[107][108]